A couple was walking on the lush green grass toward the site of the castle tower

After leaving the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, cross the moat in front of the museum, and you will find yourself in the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. The East Gardens is a park developed from the Hon-maru, Ni-no-maru, and San-no-Maru sections of the former Edo Castle. Although there are still some remains that remind us of the history of Edo Castle, such as the Fujimi-yagura and the Hyakunin-bansho, the park is more like a modern Western park than a former castle site, with a large lawn and other open spaces. Unfortunately, there is little to remind us of the Tokugawa Shogunate's former stronghold.

The castle tower and Honmaru Palace, for example, disappeared from Edo Castle before the Meiji Restoration. The castle tower was destroyed in the Meireki Fire of 1657 and never rebuilt, and the Honmaru Palace was also destroyed by fire in 1863 and never rebuilt. Considering that Nijo Castle in Kyoto, also built by the Tokugawa Shogunate, is so gorgeous that it is registered as a World Heritage Site, the Honmaru Palace and castle tower, if they had survived, would have been a sight to behold. This is what I thought as I looked at the castle tower in the distance from the Great Lawn where the Honmaru Palace is believed to have once stood, of which only the pedestal remains.

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